Lazio fans in fight with police

If You want the full story.

Reuters article in full:
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By Gideon Long
ROME, May 11 (Reuters)(DS) - Italian police fired tear gas at Lazio supporters staging a protest on Thursday against a refereeing decision wich fans claim has ruined the club's chances of winning the league title.
At least three people were injured and police detained a handful of about 1,000 supporters outside the headquarters of
the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in central Rome. One fan's coat caught fire after he was hit by a tear gas cannister.
The protest was against a decision by referee Massimo De Santis in Sunday's Serie A match between league leaders Juventus
and Parma.
De Santis disallowed a late header from Parma's Fabio Cannavaro which would have levelled the match at 1-1 with only
seconds to play. Television replays suggested the goal shouldhave stood.
If it had, Lazio, who won 3-2 at Bologna on the same afternoon, would have drawn level with Juventus at the top of the league with one round to play.
As it is, Juventus remain two points clear and can win the title if they win at Perugia in their final match, regardless of how Lazio fare in their home tie against Reggina.
If Juve draw and Lazio win, the championship will be decided in a play-off between the two sides.
The protest started peacefully as Lazio fans unfurled a series of huge banners scrawled on lengths of wallpaper.
"Juventus fans -- history repeats itself -- the more you steal, the more you win," read one.
Another banner berated De Santis and Juve's hawkish general manager Luciano Moggi, who has brushed off the outcry over the referee's decision and suggested Lazio are simply bad losers.
"De Santis, champion of Italy," it read ironically.
One man stood in front of the FIGC headquarters wearing a full length sandwich board covered in mock obituary notices.
"May 7, 2000, football died, killed by a referee who is a lackey of Juventus," the notices read.

NAZI SALUTE
As the protest continued it became more tense. Every so often, someone from the crowd would throw an orange, a beer can or a bottle at the bank of policemen guarding
the FIGC building.
Many Lazio fans, notorious in Italy for their far-right sympathies, sang fascist anthems and gave the Nazi salute.
When the police finally edged forward in a tentative effort to disperse the crowd, they were hit by a barrage of oranges.
Police then charged protesters and fired tear gas at body height forcing fans, reporters and several passers-by to escape
down side streets.
By 4:30 p.m. (1430 GMT), three hours after the protest began, order had been largely restored but groups of disgruntled fans still marched down streets surrounding the FIGC building as police helicopters circled overhead.
De Santis' decision has caused uproar in Italy, where Juventus, 25 times Italian champions, have long been both
admired and hated for their success.
Many fans feel Juve are given an easy ride by referees and some allege this is because the club is run by the Agnelli family, which owns the Fiat automobile empire and is
arguably the most powerful clan in Italy.
Lazio , owned by food company magnate Sergio
Cragnotti, have won the league title just once, in 1974.
They lost out to AC Milan by a single point on the final day
of last season's Serie A title race.
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Ciao.




[This message has been edited by Glen (edited 12-05-2000).]

Reale; You are definately an amazing character. The demonstration itself is all fair and well, but how can You actually condone bottle throwing and Nazi salutes ?

How can that be branded "having guts" ?

In my opinion that qualifies as violent aggression.

Oltre-la-morte; I completely agree with You.
I'm glad YOU have the guts to go against some of Your most irrational fellow fans (this is not hinted at Lazio fans in general- You all know who I mean).
The demonstration in my opinion helped create a debate about the future actions FIGC should take to restore serie A's credibility.
The violent thug reactions only distance Lazio's fans and thus the reputation of the team from Lega Calcio, and the people in charge there.
Had they made a thoroughly peacefull demonstration they would have won widespread sympathy- now it's a scandal instead.
And Lazio definately didn't deserve that on top of the wrong De Santis call.

Ciao.

[This message has been edited by Glen (edited 12-05-2000).]

Probably around 70-80 times:

Every League game 96-99

Most Coppa Italia games 96-99

All European Campaigns 96-99

Although I sometimes went into the Tribuna Tevere and never used my Curva Nord season ticket as friends could never get tickets in
the Curva Nord stand.

Until recently you could get into the Curva with a Distincti ticket. I was at Lazio-Valencia and this is no longer the case.

SCOTTISHTONY

Guys; I said more than once that making the protest was not at all a bad thing. Read back will You.

I'm also aware that it's only a fraction of Lazio's fans who are to blaim for these extremist views. I never intended to hint at anything else.
I only reacted against to those of You (Blackeagle and Reale) who in my opinion downsized the violent element in this incident.

Whether it was actually violent is not for me to say adamantly as I wasn't there, but generally Reuter is a reliable source, so when they write that the police was hit by a barrage of throwing items when they tried to dispatch the demonstration I can only believe that until I hear contradictory reports.
If they completely overstated it, that obviously makes the Police brutality stand out as even more wrong, but I suppose (as always) that the truth is somewhere between those claims.

Reale; I might have misunderstood You, but You mentioned guts. I don't think protesting peacefully takes that much guts. It was a passionate gesture by loyal fans, but I felt You were hinting at the fact that some people didn't fear to confront the authorities to make a point.
A point that completely removed focus of the topic in question, put the spotlight of the fascist fraction that exists and futhermore caused innocent people to suffer from the insuing violence.
That has nothing to due with guts, and that was the point I was trying to make.
Don't jump on me because I associated the name of Lazio with something bad. I'm sure both You, Boyo and everybody else can agree with me that the "fans" from the fascist fraction are morons, and that it's a shame that Lazio has to endure the bad press and fines You're getting as a consequence of their behaviour. Right ?
Nothing wrong with the demonstration- I just thought You made some idiots in the crowd stand out as valiant warriors, while I think they're criminal, narrowminded thugs.

Ciao.